Robert Mertens


Robert Friedrich Wilhelm Mertens was a German herpetologist. Several taxa of reptiles are named after him. He postulated Mertensian mimicry.
Mertens was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He moved to Germany in 1912, where he earned a doctorate in zoology from the University of Leipzig in 1915. During World War I he served in the German army.
Mertens worked at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt for many years, beginning as an assistant in 1919, and retiring as Director Emeritus in 1960. He also became a lecturer at Goethe University Frankfurt in 1932, and became a Professor there in 1939. Both jobs provided him with ample time for extensive travel and the study of lizards. He collected specimens in 30 countries.
During World War II, he evacuated most of the collections of the Senckenberg Museum to small towns. He also had German soldiers who were fighting overseas collect and ship specimens to him.
He was the author of several books on zoology, including La Vie des Amphibiens et Reptiles. Mertens described at least 64 reptile species, and numerous amphibian species.
Nine species and two subspecies of reptiles have been named after Mertens: Amblyrhynchus cristatus mertensi, Amphisbaena roberti, Chalcides mertensi, Cryptoblepharus mertensi, Erythrolamprus mertensi, Liolaemus robertmertensi, Micrurus mertensi, Phalotris mertensi, Phelsuma robertmertensi, Tropidoclonion lineatum mertensi, and Varanus mertensi. Also Vanderhorstia mertensi has been named after him.
Mertens died after being bitten while feeding his pet savanna twigsnake, Thelotornis capensis. Because no applicable antivenom existed at that time, he suffered for 18 days before dying. He kept a diary of his deteriorating condition, noting that it was "für einen Herpetologen einzig angemesene Ende ."